New to Investing / Relocating to Fort Wayne

[Scott Wehman]

Hello!

I'm following the suggestion on one of the recent BP podcasts with an introduction post here.

Following a couple years of my nearly-all-consuming interest in macroeconomics and investing, I've stumbled at last to the real estate asset class. I only wish I had found it sooner!

My life has thus far been filled with a wide variety of pursuits, and I feel that investing in real estate will be the most appropriate feather for my cap. Most recently, I've been a clinical social worker working in chemical and crisis mental health settings and published an academic text after completing my graduate assistantship in 2012.

My distaste for working in a large bureaucracy and curiosity with another completely unrelated field led to some lucrative freelance writing work and I pursued these two careers concurrently until late 2018 when I resigned from a "solid" county position to join an overseas tech startup. Unfortunately, this venture went under in 2019. During that time I also was remarried and became a full-time caregiver for a bright little (now almost 5-year-old) stepson.

Despite the high cost of living here in Minneapolis, my wife and I have been able to save a significant amount of money and begin homeschooling the little one on only 1.5 adult incomes. I have become quite focused on living frugally, I have come to truly appreciate how powerful "running the numbers" can be.

We have decided to relocate to the Fort Wayne / Columbia City / Tri Lakes area to be near her extended family and reduce our expenses dramatically. She will begin looking for a nursing position early in 2021. Once we have moved (our goal is to locate a duplex or triplex to house-hack) I will be free to pursue investing with much more of my time.

Our long-range goals are pretty far off the norm: to live off-grid in an Earthship (cutting living expenses even further) and maintain a structure for indoor bouldering. A portfolio of cash-flowing properties would provide for our basic income. I'd be very keen to connect with anyone that is also interested in the more self-sustaining and atypical types of property/lifestyles.

I'm looking forward to learning more about how to apply and develop my skills toward success in Real Estate.

Best, 

Scott